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Land of Mine (Under Sandet) (2017)

TOMATOMETER

Critics Consensus:Land of Mine uses an oft-forgotten chapter from the aftermath of World War II to tell a hard-hitting story whose period setting belies its timeless observations about bloodshed and forgiveness.

Critics Consensus:Land of Mine uses an oft-forgotten chapter from the aftermath of World War II to tell a hard-hitting story whose period setting belies its timeless observations about bloodshed and forgiveness.

AUDIENCE SCORE

Critic Consensus:Land of Mine uses an oft-forgotten chapter from the aftermath of World War II to tell a hard-hitting story whose period setting belies its timeless observations about bloodshed and forgiveness.

Land of Mine (Under Sandet) Videos

Land of Mine (Under Sandet) Photos

Movie Info

In the aftermath of World War II, a group of surrendered German soldiers are ordered by Allied forces to remove their own landmines from the coast of Denmark. Directed by Martin Zandvliet, Land of Mine made its world premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.

Ham-fisted though the drama might be, this 2015 Danish-German production will almost certainly keep you awake, not least because every few scenes some poor kid is getting blown to bits through fear, incaution, or plain bad luck.

Land of Mine is a refreshing surprise that deserves its nomination at the Oscars simply by being humane, heartfelt, and shocking without feeling necessary to delve into the platitudes of glorifying heroics.

Audience Reviews for Land of Mine (Under Sandet)

½

The film is gripping and tense enough to compensate for the main character's problems in characterization - especially his abrupt change in behavior towards the German boys, which comes off as forced and heavy-handed -, and it also benefits from a strong ending.

Carlos Magalhães

Super Reviewer

½

Knowing that the key elements in this film will consist of German teenager POWs being forced to clear landmines, the brutal consequences are inevitable and there can be no mystery about what awful scenes it must contain. Its point is simple: this is no way to treat children regardless of how Hitler's Germany used them, or what they did in the war. It depicts the vengeful Allies as little better than the enemy, when they are subjecting the boys to inhuman labour, starvation, beatings and humiliation. Bridging the two worlds is the boys' commandant, a Danish sergeant who carries out his orders, but with degrees of compassion. The film begs the questions: what is the right punishment for an oppressor and how far down into the population should it have extended; at what point is following orders a defence to war crimes; how were these boys recruited or conscripted; what would these boys have become, if Nazi Germany had prevailed; what do they symbolise now. And, if the method of clearing the mines was the forced labour of the enemy, in the form of half-starved, sick, scared and degraded teenagers, what guarantee is there even now that the beaches and the other minefields of Europe are safe? The film's ending, while appropriate to the story, leaves the questions open. The Danish sergeant's way is to understand the past, and then to lock it away, never to be repeated, but the unknown factor is how many agree with him - then, or now.

. ..

Super Reviewer

Hard to watch at times, brutal, and thought provoking too. This film shows the dangers of landmines and how costly war can be.

Ian Walker

Super Reviewer

DAS HURT LOCKER - My Review of LAND OF MINE (3 Stars)
One of this year's Academy Award nominated Foreign Language films has repurposed its title for certain audiences and it has left me baffled. Originally called UNDER SANDET (translation: UNDER THE SAND), the story of post WW2 German soldiers held as prisoners of war until they can clear the mines they had planted along Denmark's west coast, the U.S. version bears the title: LAND OF MINE. Seriously? That's the sort of bad pun my readers have come to expect from my review titles, but its use here undermines a serious yet flawed piece of filmmaking.
Writer/Director Martin Zandvliet, along with his cinematographer Camilla Hjelm bring a sweeping, widescreen beauty to this harrowing, deeply felt, excruciating story. On a remote, sandy coastline, Danish Sgt. Sgt. Carl Rasmussen (a very good Roland Møller), oversees a small troupe of mostly Aryan teenage prisoners. He brutalizes and starves them while demanding they work faster and faster to defuse the mines. His lack of warmth feels appropriate considering the horrors the Nazis brought to his homeland, but the film keeps reminding us of the prisoners' innocence, or at the very least, their lack of ideology. More on that later.
For much of the running time, we helplessly watch, knowing that at any moment a mine will surely explode. Think of it as THE HURT LOCKER with lesser technology and more blonde hair. Taking a page from Alfred Hitchcock's manual of suspense, Zandvliet builds intense dread as these kids crawl along the beach poking beneath the sand with sticks. Because we know what lies beneath, it's impossible not to watch this film with at least one hand covering your face. I almost walked out during several key moments, unsure that I could take it anymore. The seriousness of the subject matter and the fine performances all around, however, convinced me to stay. But man is it rough to watch a bomb tear apart a person.
In one scene, Rasmussen slaps the shit out of one of the kids, who seems to simultaneously laugh and cry over his beating. In others, the sergeant acts very tenderly towards his charges. He even laughs when one of the soldiers, in a very movie star quality performance by Louis Hofmann, fakes him out with a bomb noise, which seems wildly inappropriate, but #gallowshumor, right? Rasmussen's mixed feelings echo the themes of the film. How can we reconcile our warm feelings for these kids knowing what their fellow soldiers, or perhaps even they themselves, did during the war?
Unfortunately, Zandvliet eschews this political conundrum in favor of the sentimental "people are people" theme. I kept thinking how much richer this film would have been if some of the kids still espoused anti-semitic feelings or if we learned that some had committed crimes against humanity. Instead, we learn of their post-war hopes and dreams of rebuilding Germany and getting on with their lives. We delight in their playing soccer on the beach and we sympathize with them when they go without food. This lack of complexity prevents the film from truly soaring to another level.
It's fine, suspenseful, gut-wrenching filmmaking, but its point of view left me confused. Yes, it's entirely possible that many German soldiers had little choice but to serve. I understand how under Hitler's dictatorship, the citizens had to follow orders, but his ascendancy came from a groundswell of public sentiment. Hell, half of our own country supports the actions of a President the other half despises, and yet we're all responsible, in a way, for his rise to power.
In one particularly, harsh scene, a group of British soldiers beat up and urinate all over one of the prisoners. He takes the humiliation, we're led to think, in the manner of Jesus dying for our sins. He gets it. The Nazis sucked. They had it coming. LAND OF MINE, however, hedges its bets by wanting us to forget about such vengeful feelings and hope that acts of kindness lay the groundwork for a better future. A wonderful thought, if only life were so simple. This good film could have achieved greatness had it given us that extra layer of painting one or two of its prisoners as Nazi sympathizers. Still, this missed opportunity merits a look, a cowered look, but a look nonetheless.